Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

“Anadyomene (1968) suggests a Turner canvas recast in sound. It opens restlessly among undulating pastels, the tone darkens further, there are brief comments from flute and bass clarinet, the brass prompts a swelling climax, then the mood gradually becomes more animated before we're ferried back whence we came. It's 'a homage to Aphrodite, born of the sea foam, the goddess of love', and a very appealing one at that. The colourful Flute Concerto Dances with the Winds is a more extrovert piece with Nielsen as a fairly certain forebear. It shares its material between ordinary flute, bass flute, alto flute and piccolo.
The action-packed opening movement withstands some fairly aggressive interjections from the brass, the brief second movement recalls the shrill sound world of fifes and drums; the elegiac Andante moderato offers plenty of jam for the alto flute, and the finale's striking mood-swings have just a hint of Bernsteinian exuberance.
Rautavaara's prompt for On the Last Frontier (1997) was an early encounter with The Narrativeof Arthur Gordon Pym by Edgar Allan Poe. He calls it 'a seafaring yarn in the typical boys' reading mould' and responds accordingly with a 24-minute slice of descriptive musical reportage, not of Poe's exact 'narra- tive', but of an imagined Last Frontier based on ideas from the story's closing section. It's an eventful, majestic, slow-burning tone-poem, nourished further by some distinctive instrumental solos and with telling use of a fullblown chorus.
No texts are provided, and yet the aura of unexplored maritime depths and a sense of mystery associated with them carry their own wordless narrative. All three works are expertly performed and exceptionally well recorded.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

Cannes Classical Award Winner 1997

“The Seventh Symphony's opening Tranquillo evokes a calm though powerful atmosphere, with many Sibelian points of reference, especially in recognisable echoes of the Largo fourth movement from Sibelius's Fourth Symphony, whereas the closing Pesante-cantabile is more in line with the symphonic world of Hovhaness.
The Angel idea originates in a series of works (Angels and Visitations and Angel of Dusk, for instance), the reference being to 'an archetype, one of mankind's oldest traditions and perennial companions'.
This Jungian axis is reflected in monolithic chords, ethereal harmonic computations (invariably broad and high-reaching) and an unselfconscious mode of musical development.
Readers schooled in the more contemplative works of Górecki, Pärt and Tavener will likely respond to this spatially generous essay, though Rautavaara's language is more a celebration of nature than any specific religious ritual.
Comparisons with the Annunciations (for organ, brass quintet, wind orchestra and percussion) find the earlier work far harsher in tone, much more demanding technically (it calls for a formidable organ virtuoso) and more radical in its musical language. The style ranges from the primeval drone that opens the work through canon, 'bird forest' activity and the novel effect of having the 'notes of a dense chord weirdly circulating in the room' when the organ motor is switched off. Kari Jussila rises to the various challenges with what sounds like genuine enthusiasm (his fast fingerwork is amazing) while Leif Segerstam and his orchestra exploit the tonal drama of both works.
The recordings are warm and spacious.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The four Legends first began to surface in Sibelius's mind in 1893, at the same time as he was working on his Kalevala opera, The Building ofthe Boat, the prelude to which became The swanof Tuonela. It isn't the only thing from the opera that found its way into the Legends. The lovely A-minor idea for muted strings in the middle section of Lemminkäinen in Tuonela is also among the sketches, where Sibelius scribbled over it the words, 'the Maiden of Death'. In the opera she would have rowed Väinämöinen across the river to Tuonela. In the tone-poem she symbolises the very opposite, the loving mother whose ministrations return Lemminkäinen to life. In 1954 Sibelius reversed the order of the inner movements so that The swan preceded Lemminkäinen in Tuonela. Segerstam disregards the composer's wishes and places them in the old order; there's a case for this – you otherwise have two highly dramatic pieces (Lemminkäinenin Tuonela and Lemminkäinen'sHomeward Journey) placed alongside each other.
Segerstam gets very good results from the Helsinki orchestra, which responds with a keen enthusiasm that's inspiriting. The performance is free from excessive mannerisms, and his account of Tapiola is very impressive. He tellingly evokes the chilling terrors and awesome majesty of the Nordic forest.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010